Slayer
by The Bard2
Summary: What happens when Dawn taps into her power?
1. Prologue - Covenant

Series - Slayer  
  
Part - Prologue  
  
Title - Covenant  
  
Author - The Sorcerer Bard ( the_bard@mtnexus.com )  
  
Co-author - Michelle Dawn ( MichelleDawnBot@hotmail.com )  
  
Pairing - NA  
  
Series Main Characters - Dawn, Buffy, Willow  
  
Part Main Characters - Ah now that would be telling  
  
Series Rating - PG-13 for violence  
  
Part Rating - G small amount of violence  
  
Archiving - If you want it then please ask me and I'll probably give you permission.  
  
Disclaimer - What I don't own. Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox own Buffy the Vampire Slayer and everything related to them. What I do own. Everything not owned by the above mentioned people / companies is owned by me but you may use any of it as long as you give me credit.  
  
Timeline: Alternate Universe splits off from... well the end of May 2002  
  
___________________________________________________________________  
  
Slayer Prologue - Covenant  
  
Today Friday 31st of May 2002.  
  
She stood at the edge of the cliff looking down at the debris that was once the town of Sunnydale.  
  
She could see the fires burning near the old Sunnydale High School, the one that had been blown up back in 1999.  
  
She could see the waves crashing against the docks, ramming the moored boats into the piers and smashing the buildings along the dock front. The Fish Tank had long since been demolished by the water.  
  
She could see the small volcano poking it's way up through the asphalt near the UC Sunnydale campus. The lava already flowing from the peak and setting fire to the trees nearest to it.  
  
She could see a small tornado touching down near the outskirts of town, demolishing what was left of the old drive-in movie theatre and continuing on to destroy the nearby empty housing.  
  
She stood there and realised that this, all of this, was the result of breaking the covenant.  
  
"What now?" asked a voice off behind and to her right.  
  
She turned to face the four figures behind her.  
  
"We fight the darkness, that's why we're here, that's our destiny," she replied, "We're slayers."  
  
___________________________________________________________________  
  
The Dawn of Time The day the demons completely lost their purchase on our reality.  
  
"It's power is too great!" came the first voice, it belonged to a many horned red skinned demon. It was standing just inside a cave overlooking the center of power for the region, a place that would one day be called Sunnydale.  
  
"It cannot be left when we leave," a second voice sounded, this demon was standing opposite the first and was grey with long fangs and what looked like bat wings on his back.  
  
"But it must or the wars will begin again," came a third voice from deeper in the cave, this belonged to the most powerful of the three demons, he was green and wore a tattered red cloak.  
  
"And the wars will rip the fabric of time apart," said the first demon.  
  
"Therefore we must leave it behind," the third demon replied.  
  
"It will need to be protected," the second demon said.  
  
"There is no being powerful enough to maintain their grip on this reality," stated the first demon.  
  
"What about the mammalian population?" the third demon slowly moved out of the back of the cave, he moved with a slight limp, and it hampered his movements.  
  
"If we could distil some of it's power into the mammal, the mammal would be able to protect it," the second demon moved slightly so the third could move out of the cave.  
  
"Then we choose a mammal." the first demon said.  
  
"We must choose one with strong ties to this reality." the second demon said, looking at the third demon.  
  
"A female." the third demon stated.  
  
In the plains below they could see a pack of mammals hunting a lower demon, probably for food.  
  
"That one," the third demon pointed to the woman at the head of the pack, "She is strong."  
  
"Yessss," a forked tongue flicked out through the second demon's lips as it spread it's wings and took to the air.  
  
It swooped down towards the pack of mammals, heading straight to the woman who was leading them, she wore black and white colourings and her hair was all tangled. She began yelling and shouting, the demon was sure it was a language but no demon could understand it.  
  
The demon stretched it's arms out and caught the woman in it's arms. It quickly placed a hand to the mammal's forehead and used that part of it's brain to send the mammal into unconsciousness. The wings flapped hard to carry the extra weight back up to the cave.  
  
The demon dropped the woman to the floor of the cave and stood back, "Do you have it?"  
  
"Yes, and the spell we need," the third demon answered.  
  
"Good," the first demon said, "Let us begin..."  
  
The three demons began chanting in a lilting almost sing-song tone...  
  
"Felc ettec ecnassiup ed al à zenerp, emmef ettec ed sproc el rus el-zellatsni, emuayor ec dneféd iuq tnemegagne'l regétorp ruop, Tnanetniam al-zenerp te ecnassiup al zenerp."  
  
As the chanting grew in volume a wind kicked up in the cave and a glowing white fog began to form over the woman, the third demon turned and picked a box from behind him, it was ornately carved and encrusted with jewels. When the demon opened it there was a brilliant green glow emitted from it.  
  
The glowing object in the box seemed to split a sliver of itself off. The sliver floated into the middle of the fog and exploded filling the fog with a green tinge.  
  
The chanting reached a fevered pitch and the fog began to swirl faster and faster until it thrust itself down into the woman, who arched her back and screamed.  
  
As she screamed the cave around them began to shimmer and the three demons began to fade, as they did their chanting also faded.  
  
Within minutes they were completely invisible, however their chanting remained as did the woman's screams...  
  
"Awake Sineya...first of the ones," came the first demons voice.  
  
The woman's eyes flew open, she leapt to her feet and looked around, trying to find the voice she had heard.  
  
"We are losing our purchase on this reality; we need you to protect The Key..."  
  
___________________________________________________________________  
  
To be continued in Slayer part 1 - Broken Covenant  
  
ENGLISH TRANSLATION of the spell used by the demons...  
  
Take the power form this key install it into the body of this woman to protect the covenant that defends this realm Take the power and take it now 


	2. Chapter 1 - Broken Covenant

Series - Slayer Part - 1 Title - Broken Covenant Author - The Sorcerer Bard ( thesorcererbard@i-am-the-key.com ) Co-author - Michelle Dawn ( MichelleDawnBot@hotmail.com ) Pairing - NA Series Main Characters - Dawn, Buffy, Willow Part Main Characters - Dawn, Buffy, Willow Series Rating - PG-13 for violence Part Rating - G  
  
Archiving - If you want it then please ask me and I'll probably give you permission.  
  
Disclaimer - What I don't own. Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox own Buffy the Vampire Slayer and everything related to them. What I do own. Everything not owned by the above mentioned people / companies is owned by me but you may use any of it as long as you give me credit.  
  
Timeline: Alternate Universe splits off from... well the end of May 2002  
  
___________________________________________________________________  
  
Slayer Chapter 1 - Broken Covenant  
  
___________________________________________________________________  
  
Yesterday Thursday 30th of May 2002.  
  
Dawn was laying on her bed with a magazine open in front of her, she had gotten home from school a couple of hours ago, she had found the house empty except for Miss Kitty.  
  
Dawn assumed that Buffy and Willow were off doing some scooby related thing or another, probably down at the Magic Box.  
  
Dawn was reading an article about Britany Spears and her love life when her head felt like it was being split in two. Dawn swung her legs off the bed and stood up, her head swam and she felt nauseous. As her stomach heaved she rushed to the bathroom just in case she really was going to throw up and to get some aspirin for the headache.  
  
As she walked through the door her foot slipped from under her and she went down. Her head, already hurting, smashed against the floor and thankfully she sunk into the blackness.  
  
___________________________________________________________________  
  
The blackness was full of sounds and shapes, black on black shapes.  
  
There directly in front of her, or at least Dawn thought it was in front of her, was a small green light.  
  
"What...?" she uttered.  
  
"The future's past," it was her mother's voice.  
  
"The what?" Dawn asked as she moved forward, towards the light.  
  
"The past's future," came her mother's voice again.  
  
"I don't understand," Dawn noticed that she didn't seem to be getting any closer to the light so she stopped.  
  
"The covenant that was broken by force can be mended by none, not even the Powers That Be."  
  
"Mom, I don't understand," Dawn's voice was pleading.  
  
"The truth is in the earth, the earth will find a way to share it's secret."  
  
"Excavated?"  
  
"The Mouth to Hell is but one door that you must be weary of, but your more immediate concern is a window."  
  
Dawn frowned, whatever was speaking to her didn't talk like her mother had, "Who are you?"  
  
"The messenger."  
  
"Then what's the message?"  
  
"The truth."  
  
"Huh? Could you possibly be a bit clearer?"  
  
"The truth about the power behind existence."  
  
"Still not clear enough," Dawn was getting sick of this.  
  
"Clarity is linked to understanding, when you understand you will have the truth you seek."  
  
The green light began to pulse, glowing brighter and brighter until the blackness was turned a pale green.  
  
___________________________________________________________________  
  
The green began to fade to a blurry white as Dawn came to, she blinked a few times but her eyes still refused to focus.  
  
"Dawnie?" came Buffy's voice from off to her left.  
  
Dawn opened her mouth to answer but all that came out was a low rasping sound.  
  
"Dawn?" this was Willow's voice and it came from the same direction as Buffy's  
  
Dawn tried to sit up and found that she couldn't move.  
  
"Can you move?" Buffy asked as her face came into Dawn's line of sight.  
  
"No," Dawn said but it came out more like 'Nnaag'.  
  
"We came home and found you lying on the floor half in and half out of the bathroom," Willow said as she too came into Dawn's line of sight.  
  
Dawn found she could turn her head now, so she took full advantage of the fact and shook her head rather vigorously.  
  
"Careful, you could have a concussion, we've called the doctor, he'll be here soon," Buffy sat beside Dawn.  
  
She noticed that Buffy and Willow had moved her into her bedroom and laid her on her bed.  
  
"No, I feel ..." Dawn began but she broke off when she realised that she was talking normally. She tried moving her right leg and found that it moved fine, as did her left leg and both her arms, "I feel great," she suddenly realised that what she had just was absolutely right.  
  
"You feel great? You've been unconscious for what a few hours now?" Buffy looked sceptical.  
  
"Mmm, yeah I think that's about right." Dawn said as she shimmied down to the foot of her bed and got to her feet, "I feel strong."  
  
"What do you mean, strong?" Willow came to stand at Dawn's side.  
  
"I mean that I can feel the earth below us, the sky above us and the people in between," Dawn flexed her arms and noticed that she appeared to have muscles that she didn't have this morning, "I feel like I could lift a car."  
  
Buffy raised an eyebrow in disbelief.  
  
Dawn glanced at her, a smile spreading across her face, "Okay so maybe that's an exaggeration, but I'm betting I could arm wrestle you," she said pointedly.  
  
This time it was Willow's turn to raise an eyebrow, only it was in amusement.  
  
Dawn sniggered. When she noticed the almost identical looks on Buffy and Willow's faces she burst out laughing.  
  
Willow fought off her own laughter but it was hopeless, she too broke down laughing.  
  
Buffy held out a little longer but soon she too was laughing aloud.  
  
Suddenly the laughter drained away as the room around them began to shake violently, the knickknacks around the room wobbled and some fell to the floor.  
  
Buffy and Dawn rushed to the doorway, while Willow got into the doorway to the closet. Buffy looked down the hallway and saw the pictures on the wall fall to the floor, the glass in them shattering over the floor. The shaking continued to get more and more violent.  
  
Soon the three of them couldn't stay standing so the crouched to the ground. They were all watching the remaining knickknacks in Dawn's room work their way to the edge of where they were and fall to the floor.  
  
"I'm gonna have nothing left at this rate," Dawn complained.  
  
"Well think about what my room looks like then," Buffy retorted.  
  
"And mine," Willow added, "Oh imagine what the magic shop's gonna look like."  
  
Despite the commotion going on around them Buffy and Dawn smiled at a thought they both had.  
  
"Anya's gonna be pissed," Dawn said.  
  
Her statement elicited a funny look from her sister.  
  
Suddenly the windows shattered sending glass flying in all directions.  
  
"Ah!" exclaimed Dawn as a largish piece of glass flew past her slicing open her right cheek.  
  
"Are you okay?" Buffy looked concerned.  
  
Dawn clutched a hand to the cut, "I'll be fine."  
  
___________________________________________________________________  
  
To be continued in Slayer part 2 - People Need Faith 


	3. Chapter 2 - People Need Faith

Series - Slayer Part - 2 Title - People Need Faith Author - The Sorcerer Bard ( thesorcererbard@i-am-the-key.com ) Co-author - Michelle Dawn ( MichelleDawnBot@hotmail.com ) Pairing - NA Series Main Characters - Dawn, Buffy, Willow Part Main Characters - Faith, Tara Series Rating - PG-13 for violence Part Rating - PG for language  
  
Archiving - If you want it then please ask me and I'll probably give you permission.  
  
Disclaimer - What I don't own. Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox own Buffy the Vampire Slayer and everything related to them. What I do own. Everything not owned by the above mentioned people / companies is owned by me but you may use any of it as long as you give me credit.  
  
Timeline: Alternate Universe splits off from... well the end of May 2002  
  
___________________________________________________________________  
  
Slayer Chapter 2 - People Need Faith  
  
___________________________________________________________________  
  
Yesterday Thursday 30th of May 2002.  
  
It was a dreary day, as it usually was in the Los Angeles Prison, oh Faith knew that they called it a correctional facility, but to her it was still prison.  
  
The young brunette slayer was sitting in the exercise yard minding her own business and watching the other inmates move around her.  
  
"Oi! Faith," came a voice from behind her.  
  
"What is it Alicia?"  
  
"China's spreading the word that she's throwin' down with you later."  
  
"Does that bitch ever learn?" Faith stood up and turned to face Alicia, the woman was in her late twenties, short and rather portly with blonde hair shaved right down. Her face was still bruised where it had been hit by one of China's minions.  
  
"Obviously not," Alicia answered. Faith had rescued Alicia and had taken to protecting her from China's crew. Faith realised that she was getting a rep for protecting the weaker of the inmates but it felt good to do the right thing.  
  
"Where is she?"  
  
"She's hangin' out over at the west side."  
  
"C'mon, I'm going to have a word with her," Faith stalked off towards the west side of the prison.  
  
___________________________________________________________________  
  
Faith had known that starting the fight with China would get her thrown into solitary but it was worth it to put that bitch into the prison infirmary. But now she was sitting here she was even more sure that it was a bad idea.  
  
"One of these day's my fists are going to get me into even deeper trouble," she remarked to herself.  
  
"Or they may save the world," came a voice off to her right.  
  
Faith sat up and looked towards the voice, "Who's there?"  
  
"You know me," a figure detached itself from the shadows and began to glow, it was a young blonde woman dressed in white flowing robes, the face looked vaguely familiar but for the life of her Faith couldn't place it.  
  
"Umm... Oh you're Red's girlfriend right? Don't take this the wrong way but how exactly did you get here? I mean this is solitary confinement, key word solitary, as in alone."  
  
"I'm a Dream Walker, I'm not human," Tara said, "Well not any more, I was killed and then I transubstantiated into a type of demon."  
  
"A Dream Walker?"  
  
"Yes, We bring the prophetic dreams to those who have them, like slayers, prophets and... well crazy people."  
  
"Cool, but what do you want with me, especially since I'm not dreaming right now?"  
  
"You are needed in Sunnydale," Tara walked over and sat beside Faith.  
  
"Umm, in case you hadn't noticed I'm in jail... In solitary no less."  
  
"You will be released tomorrow, I will return then and take you to Buffy." Tara stood up and moved back towards the shadows.  
  
"B? She doesn't exactly like me you know."  
  
"She'll need your help, she'll get over it," with that Tara melted back into the shadows and was gone.  
  
___________________________________________________________________  
  
The morning came, as did the guards to let Faith out of solitary. She found Alicia waiting for her out in the exercise yard.  
  
"Are you okay?" Faith asked on seeing her sad face.  
  
"Yeah, China's getting out later today, they said you didn't hurt her too badly."  
  
"Then we could have a problem, I might be getting out today."  
  
"What's you mean? I thought you still had a few years left on your sentence."  
  
"I do."  
  
"Then I'm lost, how might you be getting out?"  
  
Faith decided to use one of Buffy's most used lines, "It's a long story."  
  
"Faith!" came the voice of Fred the guard.  
  
"Yeah?" she turned to see the tall African-American guard walk towards them. Fred was tall almost six foot two and built like a brick wall, he had a neatly trimmed goatee, he had been one of Faith's biggest supporters since she had been imprisoned.  
  
"You're outta here."  
  
"I'm being released?"  
  
"Yeah, it seems like you've got a guardian angel." Fred said as he came to a halt beside the two women.  
  
"Don't I know it," Faith said with a smile, "Okay let's go."  
  
___________________________________________________________________  
  
Faith grabbed Fred's arm to stop him, "Fred, can you keep an eye on Alicia, she's going to be in trouble when they let China go," she said as they approached the front office of the prison.  
  
"Alicia'll be safe, she's being transferred to a minimum security prison in an hour."  
  
"How'd that happen?"  
  
"You really thing the warden ignores all the complaints he gets?"  
  
"Well actually..." Faith broke off with a small smile.  
  
"Yeah right, now get outta here kid," Fred held open the door for Faith.  
  
"Thanks Fred, and take care."  
  
"You too," With that Fred shut the door and Faith headed to the front desk, there was a woman with her back to Faith, she was dressed like a lawyer.  
  
"Sign here please," the large woman behind the desk said as she pushed a clipboard towards Faith.  
  
"Yes Faith sign and then we can get out of here," the lawyer said as she turned to face the brunette slayer. It was Tara.  
  
___________________________________________________________________  
  
"So how exactly do we get to Sunnydale?" Faith asked Tara as the exited the prison.  
  
"We use magick," Tara began to chant while she walked in a slow circle around Faith. As her chants grew louder a glowing orange bubble appeared around them and there was a soundless pop and suddenly they were in a living room that Faith had never seen before.  
  
"Where are we?"  
  
"My house, you'll find some clothes to change into in the next room," Tara turned towards another door.  
  
"Then what?"  
  
"We go to the Magic Box where the others are."  
  
___________________________________________________________________  
  
Buffy was sitting at the table in the magic shop. The shop had taken quite a beating in the earthquake but Anya and Willow were busy trying to bring order to the chaos.  
  
Dawn was sitting next to her with her nose buried in a book on slayer mythology. Xander was out the back fixing up the training room, which had taken a lot more physical damage than the rest of the shop.  
  
The door bell jingled as someone entered the store.  
  
"Faith?" Willow said in surprise as she saw who it was that had entered.  
  
"In the flesh," the slayer replied in a cheery tone as she spread her arms. She took a step inside and the others noticed a figure behind her, the figure was wearing a white cloak with the hood up, so none of it's features could be seen.  
  
"How? I thought you were meant to be in jail?" Buffy asked in a disgusted tone as she stood and turned to face her. Dawn put the book down and watched with what could only be described as curiosity.  
  
"Had some help," Faith stepped aside to let the figure standing behind her enter the shop.  
  
The figure stopped and slowly lowered it's hood, letting the long blonde hair fall down over her shoulders.  
  
Buffy and Anya gasped, while Willow breathed "T-Tara?"  
  
___________________________________________________________________  
  
To be continued in Slayer part 3 - Ghost of a Chance 


	4. Chapter 3 - Ghost of a Chance

Series - Slayer Part - 3 Title - Ghost of a Chance Author - The Sorcerer Bard ( thesorcererbard@i-am-the-key.com ) Co-author - Michelle Dawn ( MichelleDawnBot@hotmail.com ) Pairing - NA Series Main Characters - Dawn, Buffy, Willow Part Main Characters - Dawn, Celeste, Marie Series Rating - PG-13 for violence Part Rating - G  
  
Archiving - If you want it then please ask me and I'll probably give you permission.  
  
Disclaimer - What I don't own. Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox own Buffy the Vampire Slayer and everything related to them. What I do own. Everything not owned by the above mentioned people / companies is owned by me but you may use any of it as long as you give me credit.  
  
Timeline: Alternate Universe splits off from... well the end of May 2002  
  
___________________________________________________________________  
  
Slayer Chapter 3 - Ghost of a Chance  
  
___________________________________________________________________  
  
Today Friday 31st of May 2002.  
  
Dawn sat at the table in the Magic Box watching her sister and Faith arguing over the brunette slayer's past actions.  
  
"How many times can I say I'm sorry!" Faith almost yelled.  
  
"STOP IT!" Dawn heard her own voice cry out, she stood and thumped her fist against the table, "You're slayers, you're both on the same side, now act like it."  
  
Everything stopped, the gang all turned to stare at the young woman.  
  
"Dawn? A-are you alright?" Buffy asked, her shock was very noticeable.  
  
"No, I'm really not," Dawn said as the world around her slipped into darkness.  
  
___________________________________________________________________ Dawn sat up suddenly and found herself surrounded not by darkness but by very bright light.  
  
"Dawn Summers?" came a ghostly voice.  
  
"Maybe," Dawn squinted at where the voice had come from, "Who are you?"  
  
"I am Marie," the voice answered simply.  
  
"Marie? Where am I?"  
  
"You are between worlds, not living, not dead," Marie answered.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"I am dead, a ghost to be precise, in life I was a slayer," Dawn felt more than saw Marie move towards her.  
  
"Were a slayer?"  
  
"Yes, in the early 18th century."  
  
"Why are you here?"  
  
"We are here to help you, do you know of the Covenant?"  
  
"No, what is it?"  
  
"The slayers power is drawn from the Covenant, it connects the slayer and the Key."  
  
"So, I'm connected to Buffy?"  
  
"Yes but more than that, you have more power than a slayer, your potential is far, far greater."  
  
"Wait a sec, rewind, you said 'we' when all I see is you," Dawn suddenly realised that her words were true, she could see Marie. The ghost was beautiful, she had long flowing red hair framing a smoothly curved face with deep green eyes and wearing a long flowing dress of indeterminate color.  
  
"Yes, my compatriot is Celeste," Marie answered as another woman moved into Dawn's field of vision.  
  
"Greetings Dawn Summers," the second woman said, her voice carried the lilt of an Irish accent. She was dressed similar to Marie but her hair was blonde and her eyes a deep brown.  
  
"So how exactly can you help?"  
  
"You will know when the time is right."  
  
"Why are you here to help?"  
  
"We are here to do what a slayer must..." Marie began.  
  
"Fight the forces of darkness, and avert the Apocalypse." Celeste finished.  
  
___________________________________________________________________  
  
"Dawnie? Can you hear me?" her sister's voice intruded into her peaceful blackness.  
  
"B-Buffy?"  
  
"Are you alright?" this was Willow's voice.  
  
"Yeah you look like shit," Spike's voice was further away.  
  
"Then I look like I feel," Dawn retorted, she still had her eyes closed.  
  
"Can you sit up?" Dawn's eyes flew open at the sound of Giles voice.  
  
"Mr Giles? Why aren't you in England?"  
  
"I was until The Council sent me here, the seers have seen something terrible coming."  
  
"The apocalypse," Dawn stated with absolute certainty.  
  
"They couldn't tell," Giles looked at her with a curious look on his face, "How do you know?"  
  
"She's been contacted, haven't you Dawnie?" Tara asked from where she was standing next to the counter.  
  
"Contacted? By who?" Buffy asked looking at the former witch.  
  
"Help," Tara answered cryptically.  
  
"Help? What kind of help?" Buffy asked as she helped Dawn to sit up.  
  
"The ghostly kind, two slayers named Celeste and Marie," Dawn told her.  
  
"Well then there should be some record of them in the Watchers diaries," Giles said.  
  
"Or in the Watchers Council files," Willow said as she moved to her laptop.  
  
"You know I still don't approve of you hacking your way into those files, Willow," Giles scalded as he walked towards her.  
  
Willow tapped away at the keyboard for a few seconds before replying, "Yeah, but if I hadn't then we wouldn't know that Marie was a slayer in Georgia in the early 18th century and Celeste was a slayer in Ireland around... Oh wow," Willow covered her mouth with her hand.  
  
"What is it Willow?" Buffy asked.  
  
Giles looked over the red-head's shoulder and read from the screen, "Celeste was the slayer in Ireland in Galway in seventeen fifty... Oh my, 1753," Giles looked at Buffy.  
  
"What?"  
  
"That was when Angel was turned by Darla."  
  
"And Angel was turned in Ireland."  
  
"It gets worse, according to this Angelus was the one who killed her."  
  
___________________________________________________________________  
  
To be continued in Slayer part 4 - A Gathering of Warriors 


	5. Chapter 4 - A Gathering of Warriors

Series - Slayer Part - 4 Title - A Gathering of Warriors Author - The Sorcerer Bard ( thesorcererbard@i-am-the-key.com ) Co-author - Michelle Dawn ( MichelleDawnBot@hotmail.com ) Pairing - NA Series Main Characters - Dawn, Buffy, Willow Part Main Characters - Dawn, Tara, Angel, Buffy, Willow Series Rating - PG-13 for violence Part Rating - PG  
  
Archiving - If you want it then please ask me and I'll probably give you permission.  
  
Disclaimer - What I don't own. Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox own Buffy the Vampire Slayer and everything related to them. What I do own. Everything not owned by the above mentioned people / companies is owned by me but you may use any of it as long as you give me credit.  
  
Timeline: Alternate Universe splits off from... well the end of May 2002  
  
___________________________________________________________________  
  
Slayer Chapter 4 - A Gathering of Warriors  
  
___________________________________________________________________  
  
Today Friday 31st of May 2002.  
  
"Yes," Angel said into the phone, "I knew her."  
  
"You did kill her didn't you?" came Buffy's voice from the phone.  
  
"Angelus did, yes."  
  
"She's coming here to help us, the Apocalypse is coming," Buffy paused, "Again."  
  
"Do you want me to come there?"  
  
"Yeah, if what I'm hearing is true we'll need all the help we can get."  
  
"Okay I'll be there tonight, I'll see you then."  
  
"Okay, bye." With that Buffy hung up leaving Angel staring at a buzzing phone.  
  
"Bye," he said quietly.  
  
"Another trip to Sunnydale?" Wesley asked as he walked towards Angel.  
  
"Hmm?" the vampire asked looking up.  
  
"I said off to Sunnydale?"  
  
"Yes, Buffy's got some problems over there."  
  
"I over heard you mention Celeste, is that Celeste the same one as from your recent dreams?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Could that be a sign?"  
  
"Possibly."  
  
___________________________________________________________________  
  
"He's on his way," Buffy told the others as she hung up the phone.  
  
"Do you think Celeste will mind?" Willow asked.  
  
"Angel isn't the same person that killed her."  
  
"Some people don't make that distinction," Tara said a little bitterly.  
  
Willow looked at her with a funny look on her face.  
  
"Marie and Celeste are coming," Dawn announced as she pointed at the door to the back room.  
  
There standing in the door way were two shimmering forms. They gradually got clearer and more solid.  
  
On the right was Marie and Celeste on the left, "Slayer," Marie said nodding at Buffy.  
  
"Marie?" Buffy asked nodding.  
  
"Yes," Marie said nodding, "and this is Celeste," she gestured to the other figure.  
  
"I am pleased to meet you all," she said nodding at Buffy.  
  
___________________________________________________________________  
  
Dawn watched as the two ghosts sort of made themselves at home, it turned out that although one could see right through them, they were still solid.  
  
Dawn had her arms crossed on the table and was resting her chin on them when someone tapped her shoulder.  
  
"Dawnie?" it was Tara.  
  
"Mmm hmm?"  
  
"Are you alright?" Tara asked sitting down beside her.  
  
"Yeah, it's just everything's happening so fast."  
  
"I need you to come with me for a bit, it's time for a history lesson."  
  
"What about Buffy?"  
  
"She won't know we've gone, take my hand."  
  
Dawn did as Tara asked, suddenly she felt a weight in her stomach and the surrounding room morphed into another, more primitive room.  
  
"Where are we?" Dawn asked looking around.  
  
"This is the home of Merlin, the greatest of all sorcerers," came a voice from behind them.  
  
"And this is Merlin," Tara said indicating the bearded man who had spoken.  
  
"Why have you brought this child to me, demon?" Merlin asked Tara.  
  
"She is no child, she is the covenant."  
  
"The Key? In human form? How has this happened?"  
  
"The beast came after it, the monks of the Order of Dagon sent it to the slayer for safekeeping."  
  
"Those fools, being that close to the slayer will break the covenant," Merlin walked towards Dawn and put his palm on her forehead, "I see the covenant has already been broken, the Hellmouth will be leaking waves of apocalyptic energy, have there been many earthquakes?"  
  
"Yes, and the seers can see something coming."  
  
Dawn felt like she was watching a tennis match, the conversation kept going back and forth.  
  
"They you must quarantine the Hellmouth, get everything not touched by magic away from it."  
  
"How do we do that?" Dawn asked, "There's an entire town built above it."  
  
"You built a town on top of the Hellmouth?" Merlin asked incredulously.  
  
"Yes," Tara replied, "The slayer is there now."  
  
Merlin moved to a desk and dipped a quill into an ink pot and began writing, "Take this it will expel all non-magickal beings from the area."  
  
"Very well," Tara said taking the piece of paper.  
  
"And Key," Merlin called to Dawn, "You will need to gather the best magickal warriors you have, you have the power to lead them, use it."  
  
With that the room faded and they were back in the Magic Box.  
  
"Where did you take her?" Marie asked Tara.  
  
"Huh? Take her, they haven't moved," Buffy said in confusion.  
  
"I took her to see Merlin," Tara answered.  
  
"Merlin? The wizard?" Giles asked with interest.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"I always thought he was a conglomeration of people not a real person."  
  
"He is real," Tara said with a small smile.  
  
"So, what did he say?" Marie asked.  
  
"We have to gather the greatest magickal warriors we have," Dawn answered, "We have four slayers, two vampires, a mega-powerful witch, and a demon, I think that's enough."  
  
"We'll see, we'll see," Buffy answered.  
  
Dawn smiled up at her big sister, there was a look in her eye that made Dawn wonder exactly what she meant.  
  
Suddenly there was a loud rumble and the ground shook furiously.  
  
___________________________________________________________________  
  
In the seismology department of US Sunnydale all the seismic monitors when haywire, some registered earthquakes up to a magnitude of 9 on the Richter scale, others registered no earthquake at all.  
  
Professors and students alike were stumped, none could figure out what caused the differences.  
  
The quake itself lasted for only five minute, however the aftershocks continued on into dusk.  
  
___________________________________________________________________  
  
To be continued in Slayer part 5 - Apocalypse, Sunnydale! 


End file.
